Survey: Teachers don't want to carry guns, do support armed guards

A survey of teachers revealed most teachers would not bring a weapon to their school but would feel safer with armed guards.

Story highlights

Company conducted online survey of nearly 11,000 educators

They were asked about weapons, school safety

Teachers don't embrace carrying guns

But they back armed guards

Nearly three-fourths of the nation's teachers say they personally would not bring a firearm to their school if allowed, but most educators believe armed guards would improve campus safety, a new survey showed.

January's online survey was conducted by School Improvement Network, a for-profit company that specializes in professional development for educators and partners with schools, districts, and educators.

Some 72.4% of educators said they would be unlikely to bring a firearm to school if allowed to do so.

The company's CEO, Chet Linton, said given his company's close ties with the education community, it felt the need to make sure teachers voices were brought into the debate over gun policy.

"We have a community of more than 900,000 educators that are part of our network and as we watched the coverage of Sandy Hook unfold and politicians and other groups begin to respond to the tragedy, we were concerned that the country was not hearing from educators. They are the experts in the classroom," Linton told CNN in an e-mail.

School Improvement Network says its mission is solely focused on the business of education. The company said it has no affiliation with any gun control or gun rights groups.

The Connecticut shooting jolted the nation and prompted a new debate over gun control. Suspect Adam Lanza brought three weapons inside Sandy Hook Elementary school on December 14 and left a fourth in his car, police said. The weapons taken inside were a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle and two handguns -- a Glock 10 mm and a Sig Sauer 9 mm.

Since then, in Congress and state houses across the nation, lawmakers have grappled with how to curb the threat of gun violence without infringing on the constitutional right to bear arms.

Proposals in Washington would ban assault weapons, expand background check requirements for gun purchasers, and tighten loopholes to further keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people.

The politically powerful National Rifle Association has argued armed guards in schools could prevent shootings such as the one in Connecticut.

Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's chief executive, raised the possibility the Newtown massacre might have been averted had the school employed an armed guard.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a well known crusader who has spent millions of his own money on gun control efforts, called the NRA's idea for armed guards in schools "a paranoid vision of America."

But teachers appear to disagree with Bloomberg's assumption. Almost 90% said an armed police officer would improve safety in their schools, not make them less safe, according to the survey.

Educators also detailed ways that schools have improved security following Newtown.

School officials also said they were adding security entrances, door buzzers to control access and were implementing more frequent lock down drills.

The survey was not a scientific measure of opinion.

Teens and young adults remain more likely than persons of other ages to be slain with a gun. Most violent gun crime, especially homicide, occurs in cities and urban communities, according to data collected by the Justice Department.

From 1976 to 2005, 77 percent of homicide victims ages 15-17 died from gun-related injuries. This age group was most at risk for gun violence during this time period. But it's not in schools where children are most vulnerable to gun violence -- it's at home.

Most homicide victims under age 5 were killed by a parent. In 2008, 59% of young child homicide victims were killed by a parent, 10% were killed by some other family member and 30% were murdered by a friend or acquaintance.

Gun rights and gun control advocates largely agree there should be restrictions on mentally ill people obtaining firearms. The case of Myron Fletcher illustrates how difficult it is to put that into practice.

Six months after a gunman burst into a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school and slaughtered 20 children and killed six others, promises of stricter national gun control laws remain largely unfulfilled.

Next time there's a mass shooting, don't jump to blame the National Rifle Association and lax gun laws. Look first at the shooter and the mental health services he did or didn't get, and the commitment laws in the state where the shooting took place.

The sign at the door of the Colt factory displays a gun with a slash through it: "No loaded or unauthorized firearms beyond this point." Understandable for workers at a plant, but also a bit ironic, considering one of the largest arsenals in America lies just beyond.

Morgan Spurlock's "Inside Man" gives CNN viewers an inside and in-depth look at the issue of firearms -- as viewed from behind the counter of a gun store. Here are five things to know about the debate.

As Congress grapples with major gun control legislation proposals, brothers and sisters, mothers, fathers and children write about the people they loved and lost to gun violence and how it changed their lives.